To Wickenburg and Prescott AZ

There is not much to say about the ride to Wickenburg accept that it was 115 miles long. I was through the desert, and I now have a first hand view of those dead straight roads that you see when flying across the country.

The desert is not Lawrence of Arabia desert, it is rocky, gray, rust colored. And the monotony of 10 or 20 miles of road that goes straight as far as you can see. Thankfully the last 5 miles or so descended into Wickenburg, a city of about 4,000 residents. I arrived at 5pm local time after leaving at 7am. I rode the entire day with Peggy Muncy from Arkansas. She is a very experienced tourer, and helped me maintain a steady go the distance pace.

We also had a fun five miles when the german father and son team of Achim and Alex who are riding a tandem with a conventional rear seat and a recombant front seat gave us a pull into the last support stop at about 85 miles.

The last thing I can say is that a day like this is unfortunately something you just do with focus on getting it done. It's dangerously close to something you endure, or something you wish would be over.

Going to Prescott, AZ. This was our first short day at 59 miles, and our first big climbing day. I don't know the exact numbers, you can look that up on the Crossroads website. I would rather not know!

The day started out with a nice run out of time of about 8 miles, followed by a seven mile climb. the bad news was that there was a head wind, and the first 3 miles were a straight shot towards the mountains, and until we got on the flank of those mountains, it was just keep it steady, your head down and follow the white line. Not really inspirational.

The rest of the climb brought us what turned out to be farewell views of the low desert valley, I did stop for some pictures, and hope to post a bunch later tonight or tomorrow AM. Our first support stop was at the top of this climb. Out of this stop was a little downhill into land that can only be called farm country. I saw some horses out at pasture, and some cattle. I also stopped to smell the flowers, actually take pictures!

The next 20 miles or so were hard miles that made me think about the concentration and perserverence of the previous day. This section was a 'false flat'. So named because the road looks flat, but it is actually going up. One of my fellow riders said it was a 4% grade, but it was into that same damn head wind. So it was grinding in a low gear (24-19) for me, at about 6 to 8 mph, so that took over two hours.

We then stopped at a store to refuel and regroup. There was a big congregation of the group, resting and getting in the right mood for a 'real' climb up to Prescott. This turned out to be the highlight of the day for me. We were now up in the high desert, and some pine trees were filling in the landscape. This climb was very serpentine with some descents and flat spots mixed in for variety. There were also great views. Some of the descents reminded me of Italy because of the twists and how I could use descending technique to enjoy. (Cristiano, this section of the ride is now my favorite ride ever!)

Near the top I saw an elevation sign of 6100 feet, and we descended over 800 feet down into Prescott proper, I arrived at 3pm.

Tomorrow is a shorter day, including Mingus Pass, which I believe is over 7000 feet. I think we have some more climbing in store! The other advantage of the shorter day is that we won't leave until 9:15, instead of the usual 7:15. So the net is I have the most free time since the tour started.

Hope to put some pictures up later, love Ron